Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect.

This is from TimesonLine.

This is a type of blowback. Funding these Sons of Iraq certainly helped get rid of Al Qaeda in some Sunni areas but now that the US is not giving them their checks there is conflict with the Shia majority and some of these militia members are rejoining insurgents now better trained and armed no doubt.


Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect
Obama’s withdrawal pledge is at risk as militias paid by the US begin to rejoin the insurgency
Ali Rifat, Hala Jaber and Sarah Baxter in Washington
IRAQ is threatened by a new wave of sectarian violence as members of the “Sons of Iraq” – the Sunni Awakening militias that were paid by the US to fight Al-Qaeda – begin to rejoin the insurgency.
If the spike in violence continues, it could affect President Barack Obama’s pledge to withdraw all combat troops from Iraqi cities by the end of June. All US troops are due to leave the country by 2012.
A leading member of the Political Council of Iraqi Resistance, which represents six Sunni militant groups, said: “The resistance has now returned to the field and is intensifying its attacks against the enemy. The number of coalition forces killed is on the rise.”
The increase in attacks by such groups, combined with a spate of bombings blamed on Al-Qaeda, has had a chilling effect on the streets of Iraq. More than 370 Iraqi civilians and military – and 80 Iranian pilgrims – lost their lives in April, making it the bloodiest month since last September. On Wednesday, five car bombs exploded in a crowded market in Sadr City, Baghdad, killing 51 people and injuring 76. Three US soldiers were killed on Thursday and two more yesterday when a gunman in Iraqi army uniform opened fire near Mosul.

Richard Haass, president of the US Council on Foreign Relations, who returned from a visit to Iraq last week, said: “It is obvious there are still multiple faultlines in society. In my view, Iraq and the United States are going to have to adjust the timelines and leave a residual force of tens of thousands beyond 2011.”
The resistance council recently issued a call to disaffected Sons of Iraq to take up arms against US and Iraqi troops after the government of Nouri al-Maliki failed to integrate them into the national security forces.
Many fighters have abandoned their security posts, allowing militant groups to fill the gap. Abu Omar, the leader of an Awakening militia in northern Baghdad, said more than 50 out of 175 fighters had quit.
The Iraqi resistance representative claimed some militias had lost even more. “Up to half their members have resigned from the Awakening and rejoined the resistance,” he said.
The US had been paying nearly 100,000 Sons of Iraq to participate in its security “surge”, but handed over responsibility for their welfare to the Iraqi government last month. Their pay has since dried up. Only 5,000 members of the Awakening have been employed by the Iraqi security forces.
Ginger Cruz, America’s deputy inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, warned that disillusioned Sunnis could join forces with Al-Qaeda as well as resistance groups.
“The Sons of Iraq provided a critical turning point for Iraq, so the question now becomes: what will the Iraqi government do with them?” Cruz said. “In fragile states, you need to take unemployed young men with access to weapons and give them something to do to ensure they don’t turn to Al-Qaeda or other groups.”
The gradual emergence of the Shi’ite Maliki as an Iraqi strongman has alienated some Sunnis and corruption is worse than ever, according to Cruz.
There is also growing Sunni anger about arrests of Awakening leaders, including Adil al-Mashhadani, from Baghdad, who warned recently: “There’s a 50-50 chance that Awakening guys who are not very loyal to Iraq or who need to support their families will join Al-Qaeda again.”
Local Sunni leaders have been quitting their posts, disillusioned with the government. Khalaf Ibrahim recently resigned as leader of Huwaija council near Kirkuk in northern Iraq.
“Our members have become targets for Al-Qaeda and the government security forces at the same time,” he said.
Haass, a critic of the Iraq war who served in the administrations of George Bush Sr and George Bush Jr, said: “Some people are hedging their bets and moving in the direction of ‘alternative loyalties’.”
Obama may now become a hostage to events, Haass fears. “This administration has so much on its plate in terms of foreign policy that the last thing it needs is an Iraq that unravels. If it has to do a bit more than it wanted, that could be a pretty good investment.”
The heavy toll of the bomb attack in Sadr City last week shocked inhabitants who had witnessed improvements in security in recent months. Aqeel Ali, a 19-year-old labourer, said: “My brother was killed in that bomb.
“I left school and started work to pay for his education. He was 10 years old and I wanted him to be an engineer. I will never forget the sight of my brother’s corpse, covered in blood and mud.”
Um Batool, a young mother whose husband died, called for the return of the Mahdi Army, a Shi’ite militia, to protect the community. “Who will feed my five daughters?” she cried.
Many Iraqis believe deteriorating security may provide a pretext for the US to prolong its stay in Iraq.
Colonel Andrew Bacevich, a military historian who lost his son in Iraq, said the rise in casualties threatened Obama’s withdrawal plans. The US military, including General Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser, wanted troops to leave the country “in a condition in which they can plausibly claim to have achieved success”, he said.
Iraq has already begun negotiating with the United States about exceptions to the June 30 deadline, according to press reports.
In Karrada, an affluent district of Baghdad where a suicide bomber killed dozens 10 days ago, Esam Omar, 44, a father of two, said: “I fear the violence is back. Sectarian war may be the next step.”
The Iraqi security forces were not yet ready to assume control, he said, even if the US was worried about the cost of the war. “I think American forces will have to stay here much longer. It will be shameful if the Americans leave us sinking in blood, simply to escape their economic crisis

Blowback against US backed Sunni fighters

There are still plenty of serious problems in Iraq but they will be studiously ignored by the press until some dramatic events occur and then they will be covered until McCain or Obama say something silly and then all media will turn to that! Here is an example of an unresolved issue.
By in effect bribing or hiring former Sunni insurgents to dispose of Al Qaeda in Anbar and other areas the U.S. waged one of the most successful campaigns of the occupation. This probably contributed much more to the relative peace than the surge. However, the Shiite majority are naturally fearful that these groups will use their arms to battle the Shiiite majority and are thus moving against some of them. This could further alienate Sunnis from the government and might even begin another round of civil conflict.

Iraq moves against some US-backed Sunni fighters
Iraqi troops move against US-supported Sunni Arab fighters in turbulent Diyala province
HAMZA HENDAWIAP News
Aug 18, 2008 11:58 EST
The Shiite-led government is cracking down on U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters in one of Iraq's most turbulent regions, arresting some leaders, disarming dozens of men and banning them from manning checkpoints except alongside official security forces.


The moves in Diyala province reflect mixed views on a movement that began in 2007 among Sunni tribes in western Iraq who revolted against al-Qaida in Iraq and joined the Americans in the fight against the terrorist network.
U.S. officials credit the rise of such groups, known variously as Awakening Councils, Sons of Iraq and Popular Committees, with helping rout al-Qaida.
But Iraq's government is suspicious of such groups, fearing their decision to break with the insurgency was a short-term tactic to gain U.S. money and support. The government fears they will eventually turn their guns against Iraq's majority Shiites.
The effort in Diyala northeast of Baghdad began last month as U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an operation against al-Qaida and other extremists in that region.
Mullah Shihab al-Safi, commander of Sunni fighters in Diyala, told The Associated Press that many senior leaders of his group had been detained and fighters evicted from their offices. He gave no figures.
Another senior commander said security forces evicted his men from all but seven of some 100 offices in Diyala. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared arrest.
The U.S. military confirmed the Diyala actions but gave few details. Fighters were only pushed out of buildings they did not own, a military spokesman, Capt. Matt Rodano, said.
Although there has been no general crackdown on Sunni volunteers elsewhere, some leaders outside Diyala have been arrested in western Baghdad and south of the capital — both one-time al-Qaida strongholds.
Government officials would not comment on specific claims about the push in Diyala. But aides close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said the government was not willing to tolerate the existence of armed groups with "blood on their hands."
"The continuation of the Awakening Councils as they are now is unacceptable," said Ali al-Adeeb, a close al-Maliki aide and a senior member of his Dawa Party.
A top Iraqi security official with access to classified information said authorities were especially suspicious of the Diyala groups because many of their estimated 14,000 fighters had been members of al-Qaida in Iraq.
But acting against the Sunni movements could alienate the once-dominant minority Sunni Arabs at a time when overtures to them appear to be making headway.
"We fought the Americans for four years and we fought al-Qaida, too," said al-Safi, a former Iraqi army commando during Saddam Hussein's regime who fought in the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war. "We are an experienced armed group. We are fully capable of bringing the house down."
Since the rise of the allied Sunni movement, America has spent some $200 million on salaries, equipment and training for the fighters, which now number nearly 100,000. The U.S. goal is for many of them to be integrated into the Iraqi army or police, providing the fighters with long-term incomes.
The Americans believe the program has paid dividends not only in security but in reviving the economy in former insurgent hotbeds.
"It has put money in the local economy and reduced attacks on coalition forces," said Lt. Col. Michael Getchell, commander of U.S. troops in Iskandariyah. "You can see where the money is going — an irrigation pump here, a renovated home there."
But the Iraqi government has stonewalled U.S. efforts to get most of the Sunni fighters into the Shiite-dominated security forces.
It has repeatedly changed requirements for enrollment in the police and army, canceling and changing application forms without warning or insisting that training camps were full.
The U.S. military says that of the 99,859 Awakening Council members it recognizes, only 23,357 have been accepted into the security forces or given civilian jobs.
U.S. officers worry that disbanding the Sunni groups without providing alternate incomes could push the fighters back into the insurgency.
One Shiite official who is close to al-Maliki said the prime minister believes his successful crackdown this year on Shiite militias has given him enough authority to go after Sunni armed groups without alienating Sunni politicians.
But a lawmaker from the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni party, warned that the government must take into consideration the groups' contribution to improved security.
"The government must listen to what the Awakening Councils have to say," Sunni lawmaker Hashem al-Taai said. "They deserve that because of all the sacrifices they have made."
___
Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report

Tensions Rise Between "Awakening" and Iraqi Govt. Forces

Developments such as this may explain why the U.S. is not anxious to have a large drawdown of troops from Iraq. The funding of former insurgents to fight Al Qaeda has worked relatively well in damping down attacks by Al Qaeda linked groups but has at the same time increased conflict with Shia dominated government and police forces. It remains to be seen if this conflict can be controlled or if it will escalate.This is from AntiWar.


Tensions Rise Between 'Awakening' and Iraqi Govt Forces

by Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail
BAQUBA - US backed Sahwa forces threaten to destabilize US-backed Iraqi government forces in Iraq's volatile Diyala province.

The "Awakening Councils," known locally as the Sahwa, have left their centers in cities and districts around the capital of Diyala province, located 40 km northeast of Baghdad.

After seeing better security and stability brought about by the Sahwa, most of whom are former resistance fighters, residents are concerned what their absence will now mean.

The Sahwa are protesting against kidnappings, rape, and killing of Sunnis by the Shia-controled police in Baquba.

On the other hand, Shia politicians of Diyala, like those in Baghdad, have always shown their resentment against the fighters of the Sahwa. They often accuse the fighters of being "terrorists".

Many residents see this as more of the sectarian view of the predominantly Shia government of Baghdad that does not want to share power with Sunni groups.

According to the US military, 82 percent of the 80,000-strong Sahwa are Sunni.

"Police vehicles are used to kidnap Sunni people, and when asked, the police chief and government members say it is difficult to control the mistakes of all of the police and army," Abu Saad, a member of a local Sahwa group in Baquba told IPS. "We have to put an end to the bad conduct of the police and army. They have done enough bad things to the people of this city. The suffering of this city is because of them."

An employee who works in the provincial government office told IPS on condition of anonymity that corruption is compounding the problems between the Sahwa and government security forces.

"The politicians and leaders are more concerned about collecting and saving money rather than about the security and needs of the people," he said. "There is a hidden race towards money, and this money is used for their personal needs and to support militias. This is why there is a Shia person on the top of every office."

Locals have become increasingly resentful about the corruption and lack of government action to improve security and infrastructure in the city. "The members of the government in Diyala themselves do not want the city to be secure," said a local trader, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They want to keep ruling the province one-sidedly. People do not trust them, and suspect their allegiance."

The trader added, "Shia politicians of the Baghdad government want to keep their domination over Diyala, even though it is mostly Sunni." In 2003 estimates showed that Diyala province was roughly 85 percent Sunni.

As a result of rallies against the provincial police chief, Major General Ghanim al-Qureyshi, who the Sahwa say is a part of the corruption and anti-Sunni behavior of the government security apparatus, the fighters of the Awakening Councils have earned more support from residents.

"We are currently protecting Sunni people from the government police and army," Sahwa member Abu Laith told IPS. "An Iraqi police Hummer entered the New Baquba district and kidnapped a Sunni person recently. Before it left the district, the fighters of the Sahwa blocked the way and freed the kidnapped person, and arrested the four persons who were dressed up as policemen."

Laith, like most residents of Baquba, believes that most of the Iraqi police and army are members of various Shia militias.

"After a day, US troops came and took the four policemen to prison," Laith said. "When we asked (Diyala police chief) Qureyshi about them, he replied that he does not know. Of course we know he is lying."

The Sahwa in Diyala refuse to cooperate with the government, but maintain ties with coalition forces. The US forces are backing the Sahwa now more firmly than before.

This has brought a growing divide between the US armed and funded Sahwa, and the US-backed predominantly Shia government in Baghdad. Reconciliation seems remote within this seemingly contradictory strategy of the occupation forces, that many here call a "divide and rule" strategy.

US backing of the Sahwa members, who are each paid at least 300 dollars per month, is provoking resentment among Shias.

"The commander of the Sahwa, Abu Hader, has been given huge authority, and his bodyguards are Americans," a resident of the New Baquba district, speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. "American snipers are posted over his house for his protection."

People of the New Baquba district feel safe with Abu Hader, he said. "He cares for the displaced people by giving them money and food, he cares for widows who lost husbands during these last few years, and he gives to and hires the unemployed."

In a move sure to enrage the government of US-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has opposed the Sahwa from the beginning, many groups are forming their own battalions, and conducting their own training, independent of the government.

"A group of the Awakening Councils fighters traveled to Sulaymaniya province in the north for training to become officers for the newly-formed battalion," Abu Ahmed, a member of the local Sahwa told IPS. "The Americans have finally replied to the cries and sufferings of Sunnis, who were unfairly treated through the period of occupation."

(Inter Press Service)

Conflicts between Iraqi government and US backed Sunni groups

This is from the NY Times. This type of reaction was predicted at the time the policy was first begun. The Shia government has always had doubts about the ultimate results of the policy. As evidence begins to emerge that the groups funded by the US may be used to purge Shia from Sunni areas this will just exacerbate the tension between Shia and Sunni.


February 10, 2008
Conflicts Deepen Between Local Iraqi Governments and U.S.-Backed Sunni Groups
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
BAGHDAD — Conflicts between provincial governments and local Sunni Arab forces allied with the United States intensified this weekend in two provinces. The conflicts raise the prospect that the creation of the forces, known as Awakening Councils or Concerned Local Citizens, formed to fight extremists and bring calm to the country, might instead add to the unrest in Diyala and Anbar provinces.
In Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, 300 members of the local concerned citizens groups, many of whom are former insurgents, left the outposts, from which they start patrols and guard the surrounding areas.
The citizens groups said the walkout was a protest against the Shiite police commander for the province, whom they accuse of being sectarian and a member of the Mahdi Army, a militia affiliated with the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, according to an official in the governor’s office who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The police commander, Staff. Gen. Ghanim al-Quraishi, has accused many in those citizens groups of continuing their past activities of killing and displacing Shiite families, and he has removed some of them from their posts and detained others.
The American military recruits and pays the groups to fight Islamic extremists. Although the groups have mostly seemed to be cooperating, more recently their behavior has been problematic.
In Anbar Province, tensions escalated between leaders of the local Awakening movement and the Iraqi Islamic Party, which as the sole major Sunni party to contest the most recent local elections won control of the provincial council. Party members said Saturday that they might bring a lawsuit against the Awakening leaders for saying they would oust the party from control; the leaders had previously called for a new election in the next few months in order to try to win seats on the council.

Crucial ally against Al Qaeda in Iraq wants fighters to be part of army and police

This is from the Independent. This shows the danger of the new policy that has dramatically reduced insurgent violence in parts of Iraq. The new allies are former Sunni insurgents. If they are "incorporated" in the army and police, many police and army units may in fact be under control of regional leaders. The majority Shia government fears just such a situation.

'If there is no change in three months, there will be war again'

By Patrick Cockburn in FallujahMonday, 28 January 2008
A crucial Iraqi ally of the United States in its recent successes in the country is threatening to withdraw his support and allow al-Qa'ida to return if his fighters are not incorporated into the Iraqi army and police.
"If there is no change in three months there will be war again," said Abu Marouf, the commander of 13,000 fighters who formerly fought the Americans. He and his men switched sides last year to battle al-Qa'ida and defeated it in its main stronghold in and around Fallujah.
"If the Americans think they can use us to crush al-Qa'ida and then push us to one side, they are mistaken," Abu Marouf told The Independent in an interview in a scantily furnished villa beside an abandoned cemetery near the village of Khandari outside Fallujah. He said that all he and his tribal following had to do was stand aside and al-Qa'ida's fighters would automatically come back. If they did so he might have to ally himself to a resurgent al-Qa'ida in order to "protect myself and my men".
Abu Marouf said he was confident that his forces controlled a swath of territory stretching east from Fallujah into Baghdad and includes what Americans called "the triangle of death" south-west of the capital. Even so his bodyguards, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, nervously watched the abandoned canals and reed beds around his temporary headquarters. Others craned over light machine guns in newly built watch towers. Several anti-Qa'ida tribal leaders have been killed by suicide bombers in recent weeks.
His threat is highly dangerous for the US and Iraqi government, neither of which made any headway in ending the Sunni insurgency against the US occupation for four years until the tribes of Anbar, the province in which Fallujah lies, turned against al-Qa'ida. They formed the Awakening movement, known in Arabic as al-Sahwah, of which Abu Marouf, whose full name is Karim Ismail Hassan al-Zubai, is a leading member.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, warned last week it would be "very dangerous" if the Awakening movement's 80,000 fighters were not absorbed into the army and police. "They are not that well organised and could easily be manipulated by al-Qa'ida," he said.
The Iraqi government fears ceding power to the Awakening movement which it sees as an American-funded Sunni militia, whose leaders are often former military or security officers from Saddam Hussein's regime and are unlikely to show long-term loyalty to the Shia and Kurdish-dominated administration.
Abu Marouf – a thin man aged about 40, with a short beard and wearing a brown suit and lilac tie – says he was "security officer" before the US invasion of 2003. Afterwards he became a resistance fighter and, though he will not say which guerrilla group he belonged to, local sources say he was a commander of the 1920 Revolution Brigades. He is also a member of the powerful Zubai tribe that was at the heart of anti-American resistance in an area which saw the fiercest fighting during the Sunni rebellion against the occupation.
He has a precise memory for dates and figures. He says that he started secretly working against al-Qa'ida at a meeting as long ago as 14 April 2005. He and his men gathered intelligence. Eight months later they started making attacks on al-Qa'ida, which was trying to monopolise power in Sunni areas.
"They cut off people's heads and put them on sticks, as if they were sheep. They cut off my brother's head with a razor. Thirteen of my relatives and 450 members of my tribe were killed by them," he said.
Part of Abu Marouf's force is paid for by the Americans. Ordinary fighters are believed to receive $350 (£175) a month and officers $1,200, but some receive no salary. He makes clear that he wants long-term jobs for himself and his followers and that "they must be long-term jobs". There is more than just money involved here. The Sunni tribal leaders want a share of power in Baghdad which they lost when Saddam Hussein was deposed.
The US calls the Awakening movement groups "Concerned Citizens", as if they were pacific householders heroically restoring law and order. In fact, the US has handed over Sunni areas to the guerrilla groups such as the 1920 Brigades and the Islamic Army who have been blowing up American solders since 2003.
This creates a serious problem for the Iraqi government and for the Americans themselves. Though Abu Marouf wants to join the government security forces, he volunteers that he considers the present Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki "the worst government in the world – his army has got 13 divisions, most of which are recruited from Shia militias controlled by Iran."
It is clear that Abu Marouf sees the Shia religious party takeover of government as something to be resisted.
The city of Fallujah – many of its buildings still in ruins since the US Marines stormed it in November 2004 – is peaceful compared with six months ago. Al-Qa'ida fighters, who once dominated it, have either gone or are keeping a low profile. The Americans have a large military camp on its outskirts. But the defeat of al-Qa'ida is not exactly a victory for the Iraqi government.
In the centre of the city is a much-attacked police station run by Colonel Feisal Ismail Hassan al-Zubai, an authoritative looking man, who is the elder brother of Abu Marouf. A career officer in Saddam Hussein's Special Forces since 1983, who fought in 11 battles against Iran, he was appointed police chief in December 2006. When I asked what he did previously he said: "I was fighting against the Americans." Asked why had he changed sides he replied: "When I compared the Americans to al-Qa'ida and the [Shia] militia, I chose the Americans."
Beside Colonel Feisal is a gold framed picture of himself as a young officer. "That was when I was a lieutenant in the real Iraqi army," he says. Behind him is the old Iraqi flag which the government is trying to replace.
He says: "The worst day of my life was when Saddam Hussein fell in 2003." He chokes himself off from giving an account of the first battle of Fallujah against the Americans in April 2004 in which he appears to have played a role. "The Americans now give me everything I want," he says.
There is no doubt that Abu Marouf and Colonel Feisal are far better people than the savage sectarian bigots of al-Qa'ida whom they have driven away.
But, far from America having won a victory in Iraq, violence has fallen largely because the United States has handed power to the guerrillas who fought it for so long.
If the Iraqi government pretends it has conquered its enemies and refuses to give men like Abu Marouf a share in power then Iraq will soon being facing another war